There are, of course, a lot of both marketed and unmarketed devices for use in exercising particular parts of the body, including the feet. Devices for use in exercising the feet include bicycle exercisers, ropes on the end of stirrups sometimes coupled through pulleys which are connected to the top of a door hinge and may cooperate through the arms and hands to exercise the entire body, and undoubtedly a variety of others.
Ordinarily these exercise devices suffer from one or more deficiencies in that either it's a relatively large, expensive piece of equipment such as an exercise bicycle which is not easily stored, or it relies on external support systems such as pulley and rope exercisers, or it is not muscle-specific and may involve exercises of the muscles which the exerciser really isn't interested in.
There is a need for a mechanism to exercise the leg muscles in substantially the same manner as does the exercise bicycle, but permitting such exercise to take place with a minimum investment in the equipment, and by utilizing a piece of equipment which is readily stored in a closet or other small, out of the way nook, and which can be used while reading, writing, or even eating, in a reclined or upright position, respectively, in a bed or in a chair.